Manufacturing of products includes processing of subassemblies at multiple production stations with each station designated, for instance, to one or more of incoming inspection, assembly, testing, calibration, and branding. Many products to be manufactured include multiple subassemblies, one or more of which are capable of being configured in multiple ways. Prior to accepting a subassembly for incorporation into the product, the process ideally verifies data associated with the subassembly, such as part number and configuration revision, to avoid errors.
Such verification requires access to data associated with the bill of materials (BOM) of the product to be manufactured, data from manufacturing stages prior to the subassembly's arrival at the particular production station, correct and actual configuration revisions, etc. If the verification is not successful, the subassembly is not accepted for incorporation into the product.
Some products include technology in particularly skilled areas. Examples of skilled areas of technology include radio frequency and microwave technologies in products such as microwave radios, medical devices such as X-ray, CAT (computed axial tomography) or MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) machines, or fiber optics systems. Such products often include one or more subassemblies capable of configuration. Errors in the manufacture of a product may result, after shipping, in unacceptable performance, liability for failing to conform to regulations or standards, or other anticipated or unanticipated problems. In some skilled areas of technology, such as those involved in medical devices, errors may cause physical harm.
Therefore, there is a need to consider the foregoing in the design of manufacturing systems and methods and the benefit of verifying data associated with subassemblies prior to accepting them for incorporation into a product to be manufactured. One desired aspect of such design might be to substantially increase accessibility of data and software used for verification purposes.